Bees in a Bar-Frame Hive is a compact practical booklet by the Rev. E. Bartrum, D.D., and the Rev. R. McClelland, edited by Bartrum. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published this issue in London in 1897 as part of Helpful Hints for Hard Times.
The red cover advertises a one-penny booklet. Inside, sixteen printed pages compress the work of a small apiary into short paragraphs: acquiring bees and equipment, handling swarms, obtaining honey, feeding, winter preparation and keeping equipment in order.
Beginning on a small scale
The opening advice identifies knowledge, manual skill, a suitable locality and the ability to work around bees as requirements. It recommends learning with an experienced person and consulting local associations and bee journals.
The authors advise starting modestly and connect bee keeping with fruit growing. They name orchard trees, lime, clover and other forage plants as part of assessing the locality.
A short account distinguishes queens, workers and drones. The emphasis quickly returns to practical decisions rather than developing a lengthy natural history.
Buying the hive and outfit
The booklet describes a bar-frame hive with ten standard frames and recommends keeping frame sizes consistent. The body box, floorboard, division boards, upper box and insulating covering are identified as parts of the outfit.
Veils, gloves, smokers, feeders and comb foundation also appear. Period suppliers and prices give evidence of the equipment market available to a Victorian beginner.
The foundation discussion distinguishes thicker material for frames from thinner material for honey sections. It also mentions wired combs and devices for fixing foundation.
These details make the booklet useful to readers studying how movable-frame equipment was explained to ordinary purchasers. It assumes that the keeper must assemble a workable outfit from separate components.
Setting up and handling swarms
Site advice concerns level ground, orientation, shelter, spacing and access behind the hives. The authors emphasize allowing room for the person doing the work and keeping the ground clear.
The instructions for receiving a swarm describe placing bees into the hive and giving them foundation and food. Subsequent inspection checks whether comb is being built straight and whether more room is needed.
The handling advice stresses calm movements and care with newly built comb. Swarming is followed through the collection of a swarm, afterswarms and attempts to reduce further departures.
The booklet also discusses adding supers and rearranging combs. It presents these manipulations as connected with population, crowding and the availability of a honey crop.
Sections and extracted honey
Honey production includes both sections and shallow frames. The text explains racks, separators and the use of additional supers as the crop develops.
The extracting account describes uncapping, placing combs in the machine, reversing them to remove honey from both sides and returning emptied combs. It distinguishes working with honey combs from disturbing the brood.
Straining and bottling follow, with brief attention to cleaning equipment. The booklet’s small format brings the reader from hive expansion to handling the finished product without a separate technical chapter for each stage.
Feeding, winter and maintenance
Seasonal feeding advice considers shortages in spring and reserves for winter. The closing page includes recipes for spring and autumn feed, alongside a reminder to provide water.
Winter preparation focuses on colony strength, food, insulation and dry equipment. The authors also discuss uniting weak stocks, moving hives and cleaning equipment in spring.
Wax recovery receives a concise paragraph, showing how cappings and old comb were treated as useful material. A final summary emphasizes strong colonies, patience, cleanliness, knowledge and gradual progress.
Reading this historical booklet
Disease, robbing and pests are included, together with chemical mixtures and treatments characteristic of the period. Those remedies, sting treatments and food-handling advice require current guidance before practical use.
This free ebook suits readers of Victorian household improvement literature and the history of small-scale beekeeping. Its particular interest is the amount of practical information offered in an inexpensive booklet.
The PDF contains 28 digital pages, including the original red cover, title, series list, sixteen-page text and blank end material. An added blue title sheet precedes the historical cover. This is a text booklet rather than an illustrated construction manual.
Book details
- Author: Rev. E. Bartrum, D.D., and Rev. R. McClelland; edited by E. Bartrum
- Publisher: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London
- Year: 1897
- Edition: 1897 issue in Helpful Hints for Hard Times
- Digital length: 28 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 1.02 MB
